Aisha Alves: Hi, I'm Aisha with Picture Perfect Makeup in Washington DC. We're a collaboration of professional makeup artists and what we're going to do today is show you some of the tricks that we use everyday on location. Today, we're at the PRatPartners Salon in Washington DC and this is our model Megan (ph). What we're going to do first is show you how to prep your skin for a perfect makeup application. Skin care is really important because unless your skin looks good nothing you put on top is going to look good. So, what we're going to do is start with the cleanser. I'm going to use a foaming cleanser today. Foaming cleansers are great because they're really to use. You just put a dime size amount in your hand, add water and rub your hands together to create a lather.

This lather you can go ahead and massage on the skin to remove any oil, dirt and makeup. There is a lot of different types of cleaners out there. Like I said, foaming cleansers are great because they're really versatile, almost anyone can use them. If you're a little bit oilier, you might want to go for a gel cleanser which is more lightweight or if you're drier, you can go for a cream or oil based cleanser which will give you a little bit more hydration. Megan has got pretty good normal skin so we can go ahead and choose the foaming cleanser for her. After you cleanse, a really important step is toning.

Now, what we're going to use today is an alcohol free toner. When I say alcohol free, I'm using something that's going to be a little bit more soothing to the skin and less irritating. What toning does, it gives your skin a little bit of instant hydration. It will balance the skin after cleansing and also, remove any residue of any cleanser that might be left over. Remember when you use your cotton pad, go in downward strokes to make sure that you flush all the residue out of the pores effectively. How does that feel?

Megan: Good.

Aisha: Okay, once you've done your toning, the next step is hydrating. What I'm going to use is a light weight moisturizer with a pump. I like these because they're the cleanest way to go. You dont have to stick your fingers into a pot so the product stays pure and clean. What you're going to do is just do a couple of pumps on the tip of your finger, rub it in and smooth it on the areas of the skin. There are a lot of different types of moisturizers out there and just like cleaners, make sure you pay attention to what texture you're using, so its appropriate for your skin type. Now that you're hydrated, there is one more important step that you really dont want to forget and that's taking care of your eyes. Eye creams are important because the skin under our eyes is definitely a lot different from the skin on the rest of the face. Its more translucent, its more sensitive and its definitely more delicate. As we age, this is the first place that's going to show signs of aging, so you want to make sure that you take care of it everyday. I'm going to use a light weight eye cream also in a pump to keep it clean and you're just going to use a very small amount about the size of a grain of rice.

What you want to do is tap it along the orbital bone. The orbital bone is this bone that you can feel kind of going around your eye, I'm saying this because a lot of people have a tendency to apply the product really close to their eye and that can irritate, so try to keep it low. Try not to apply it on top either because sometimes that will make your makeup slide around but at night, if you're really dry you can go ahead and do that. Finally, you just kind of want to make sure that you've prepped your lips. I'm going to use a very lightweight lip balm, something that's not too slippery to hydrate the lips and give them a little bit more of a smooth finish without making your lipstick slide off.

And that's it, now she is perfectly prepped for a great makeup application.